Justin Bieber found himself being schooled by a doctor, after he was seen telling fans on Instagram that ‘healthy food is medicine’.
The Baby hit-maker, 26, had shared a quote with his 144million followers that read: ‘The right healthy food is actually medicine,’ while encouraging those suffering from anxiety or depression to try switching up their diet.
Bieber said doing so had worked for him and originally said alongside his post: ‘If you are feeling anxious or depressed a lot of it has to do with our diet! Try changing up your diet! It has helped me so much!!!’
Dr Joshua Wolrich – an NHS surgical doctor, who hosts a podcast titled Cut Through Nutrition – picked up on Bieber’s post and warned the star that the message he is sharing has the potential of actually being quite harmful.
Arguing that food cannot be medicine, Dr Wolric corrected Biebs and commented: ‘The intention behind this post is good, but unfortunately the potential outcome is quite harmful. Food is many, many things but it’s not medicine. That’s not to say it isn’t important – it provides us with nutrition and energy to thrive, but it has its limitations.
‘Anxiety and depression is very rarely as a result of food intake. Mental health is complex and boiling is down to the privilege of food choices is incorrect and stigmatising for those who struggle with it on a daily basis.’
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He continued: ‘For any of you who read this and felt a sense of guilt that if only you changed your food you wouldn’t struggle with mental health… please know that’s not accurate. You are doing a fantastic job – do not compare yourself to a celebrity with all the capacity for change and privilege in the world x.’
Dr Wolrich’s post seemed to hit a nerve with Bieber, who shared a grab of it to his story and basically told the doctor to ‘f**k off’.
Underneath Dr Wolrich’s response, the singer commented: ‘Bro litterally f**k off lol (sic).’
But, Dr Wolrich – who’s Instagram bio reveals he’s dedicated to ‘fighting weight stigma and nutri b*llocks’ -had the perfect response by schooling Bieber once more.
He posted a video where he explained why the statement ‘food is medicine’ can be harmful – pointing out that such a phrase would suggest food can cure cancer which isn’t the case.
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‘Food can’t cure cancer,’ he says. ‘People that go on juicing diets to try and cure their leukaemia die. We know that. When you say “food is medicine” you’re also propogating that.’
He offered: ‘I get that you like the phrase, I’ve used phrases in the past and I’ve used rhetoric in the past that I really liked and when I found out it was harmful, or potentially harmful, I didn’t want to let go of it either… but we need to.’
Alongside the clip, Dr Wolrich wrote: ‘Reminder as to why I believe that the phrase ‘food is medicine’ can be harmful. Food is food. Medicine is medicine. We need to respect both but not conflate the two. Let’s find better ways of expressing just how important food can be.
‘N.B. this phrase is perfectly acceptable in the context of eating disorder recovery and can be a helpful mindset to have during treatment. This post is not to negate that.’
Since then, Dr Wolrich revealed he’s been inundated with messages from Beliebers backing the star in his inbox, but he’s not backing down and stressed once more: ‘Food can’t fix all illnesses and actually, it very rarely can fix any particular illness.’
‘It can make your symptoms better, but that’s about it,’ he added, before revealing that he actually spoke to Justin for an hour via direct message after responding to his initial post.
He praised the star for taking his comments on board and slightly editing his caption as a result to read: ‘If you are feeling anxious or depressed it can often have a lot to do with our diet! Try changing up your diet! It has helped me so much !!!’
Proving there’s no bad blood between him and Bieber, Dr Wolrich followed up his story with a nod to his new celebrity pal.
He filmed a video of his fresh coffee pot and played Bieber’s track Intentions over the top.
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